The Regnum Christi Movement offers its members some guidelines of a gospel-based spirituality as an ideal of Christian life. The spiritual path that Regnum Christi members walk mainly consists in knowing, loving, imitating, and proclaiming Christ. This is the path and these are the goals.

Below, we offer some resources that can help nurture the spiritual life of Movement members and of any Christian.

There was a feast of the Jews, and
Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem
at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew
Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number
of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was
there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When
Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had
been ill for a long time, he said to
him, "Do you want to be well?" The sick
man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put
me into the pool when the water is stirred
up; while I am on my way, someone else gets
down there before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise,
take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man
became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now
that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to
the man who was cured, "It is the sabbath,
and it is not lawful for you to carry your
mat." He answered them, "The man who made me
well told me, ´Take up your mat and walk.´"
They asked him, "Who is the man who told you,
´Take it up and walk´?" The man who was
healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had
slipped away, since there was a crowd there. After
this Jesus found him in the Temple area and
said to him, "Look, you are well; do not sin
any more, so that nothing worse may happen to
you." The man went and told the Jews that
Jesus was the one who had made him well. Therefore,
the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did
this on a sabbath.

Introductory Prayer:Lord Jesus, I
look to you with faith, knowing that you are
the Lord of all. I hope in your boundless mercy,
since without you I can do nothing. I want
to love as you deserve, so I come to you
in this prayer to console you and bring you
the joy of this moment together.

Petition: Lord,
help me to be humble of heart so you will
heal me.

1. Christ´s Power is Stronger: The man in
the Gospel was ill for 38 years. His sickness serves
as an example of a life of sin. In
1 John 2:16 we read about a triple spiritual sickness:
“The lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes and the pride of life.” However, not even a
sickness persisting for 38 years is able to escape
Jesus’ curing power. Christ’s power is stronger still. We
should therefore take hope, for no sickness, no sin
– or life of sin – is too great for
him to cure. All that is needed is that we
turn to him with a humble and contrite heart:
“Lord, I am not worthy, but only say the
word and I shall be healed.”

2. Revealing Our Weaknesses: Nothing
is impossible for Christ. He can heal the sick; he
can also forgive their sins, as he forgives the
paralytic who is lowered from a rooftop (Cf. Mark
2:1-12). All it takes is for this sick man to
reveal his weakness – and he does so with
detail, like a true confession: how he has attempted to
enter the pool, how as he has tried, someone
else has beaten him to it. Perhaps without this
detailed account of his failure, he might not have been
cured. The sick man’s admitting both his personal weakness
and desire to plunge into the pool moves Jesus
to compassion. This is the remedy to all of our
illnesses: presenting ourselves to Christ as we truly are,
with all of our weakness, and thus moving him
to compassion.

3. Go and Sin No More: Jesus says, “Look,
you are well, do not sin any more.” It
would be a pity if this man, who is deeply
moved by Jesus and made whole, afterwards dedicates himself
to a life of vice. From the Gospel passage,
it would seem that Jesus has cured him in order
to allow him to utilize his time and energy
for the benefit of the Kingdom: Christ warns the
sick man that if he misuses his new health, he
could be worse off than before. Hopefully, his healing
will produce a conversion and make him a herald
of the Kingdom. This happens also in the sacrament of
reconciliation: After forgiving our sins, Christ tells us, “Go
in peace and proclaim to the world the wonderful
works of God who has brought you salvation.”

Conversation with
Christ: O Jesus, the only way that
I can be like the man at the pool
of Bethesda is to be grateful for the gifts you
have given me, to fight against a life of
sin, and to clothe myself with the “new man.” I
am ready to embrace your will with love, even
if this means dying to myself.

Resolution: As
Easter approaches, I will humbly recognize my sinfulness and seek
God’s healing grace in the sacrament of confession.

The daily meditation is a service of Regnum Christi that offers people a Gospel reflection through e-mail. You can view the weekly meditation on this link or listen the podcast version here.